How To Write Articles Without Wearing Out Your Fingers

Learning how to write articles online is probably the biggest factor to getting high search engine rankings. However, for most people is also the most difficult aspect of marketing on the web. It can be extremely difficult for most people to come up with articles that they can use for syndication.

It's time for a reality check!

The sad thing is that writing articles is not as difficult as most people make it out to be. Almost every day I'm telling somebody the same thing: "if you can talk about your niche, you can write an article; if you can't talk about it, you are in the wrong niche!"

So, today, let's look at what it takes to write an article, and a few tips to help you get the articles out of your head and onto the web.

What is an Article?

When it comes down to it, all you're doing with an article is having one side of a conversation. Think about it: a conversation is words, and an article is just words written down.

So, an article is a conversation written down.

Often when I am writing an article, whether for my own website or for one of my clients, I use the questions someone else asks (whether through social networking, reading up on forums, or anywhere else you have direct contact with your potential customers) as subheadings, and the answer to that question as the paragraph for the article.

One thing that I find extremely funny is seeing people who can write a 500 word post in the forums to ask a question, while claiming that they do not have the skills to write an article. If you can write that much in a forum post, then you can write an article as well.

The difference will be that you need to spend a little time researching the information that you need to write about. Unfortunately most training programs fail to teach you how to research your content properly.

Most of the Internet marketing training programs that I have gone through focus on outsourcing articles, so they don't take the time to teach you how to research the content that you need. Often niche research is limited to picking out keywords rather than finding information within the niche.

How to Write Articles Without Ripping Your Hair Out

If you keep ripping your hair out every time you slave away over an article, before long you're gonna be bald. Instead, let's look at some different ways that you can come up with content for your articles.

Using Web Content For Article Research

Those of you who know me by now have probably realized that I enjoy forums for a wide variety of reasons. They are a great source of finding keywords. However, they are also a great way to find content that you can rewrite for your own website.

Simply browse through some of the questions that people ask, and the answers that other forum members give, and you can come up with a lot of information that you can rewrite in your own words to add to your site.

You can also do the same thing with just about any other website that you find. Browse websites within your niche, article directories, popular blogs, and even groups and fan pages on Facebook. Also take a browse through some videos on YouTube. All of these are great sources of information that you can use for your articles.

Find PLR

You can also find a lot of great PLR content available on a wide variety of niches. I I have an 8 GB flash drive full of nothing but PLR content that I have picked up, mostly for free (although I have paid for some).

I use this PLR content to come up with ideas for articles, blog posts, and e-books. I never take it as is, to avoid any duplicate content issues - instead, I rewrite it in my own words and use the PLR to ignite my brain when brainstorming information to write about.

Getting It Down

The next biggest problem people have is taking the information they have, and putting it into an article. A lot of this has to do with people not wanting to slave away over typing out an article manually.

In order to overcome this hassle, I recommend using speech-to-text software; this allows you the opportunity to dictate an article quickly and easily. An article that would normally take me 45 minutes to an hour to write can be dictated in about 5 to 10 minutes.

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One reason some people might have trouble when it comes to writing is because they don't have their thoughts organized. Some find it helpful to do an outline before writing (or doing a video) so that they know what they are going to talk about. I like using a technique called Mind mapping.

In Mind Mapping, start with your central idea or concept and branch out from there. Each of those ideas can become their own starting point for more branches. keep going until you have all the ideas you want to put in. And it doesn't matter if you don't think of things in order. You can jump around as much as needed, go through later and sort ideas into priorities if needed, or add any other notes you might need.

Mind mapping is usually a more artistic form of this technique because the idea or concept can use images as well as text. Some may have heard of this same technique, using just words circled, as a bubble map. I use it both ways, depending on how much time i spend on it. But when I have the map made, I could easily write articles (as many times as I wanted with the ideas in the same general order if I wanted), speeches, videos, whatever and it feel "fresh" every time.

Too late for me mate; the hair's already gone. As usual, like in the forums, you offer a wealth of sound information in an 'easy to understand' format; ever thought of teaching?

Great additional info from your bro as well. In light of your article and Grady's comment may I add; make the central idea for your mind map your "focus keyword phrase"; especially if writing for SEO.

Your idea of text to speech I use all the time and I use Dragon NS. Here's an idea that may help if you are away from your computer; I purchased this little device called the LiveScribe Echo. It allows me to write notes in a notebook while recording my voice at the same time. The audio is linked directly to my written notes making it easy to find. As the audio recording is my voice I then use the file input in Dragon NS to turn it into written text. I have found this method more effective than using my iPhone as the 'Echo' is not just the size of a pen; it is a pen.

Hi, John,
Thanks for your post. I'm particularly interested in knowing more about the LiveScribe Echo smart pen. I just checked out the website and am not clear if you have to be constantly speaking into the pen as to what it is you are writing? As it relates to your article writing, do you write down an outline of your article that you want to write but have to be speaking it also at the same time?

Sounds like a great tool, and anything that helps with article writing is something I want to know more about.

Thanks Jon and I agree, if you check out the site, you will see that I have my DNS affiliate review there.

Just started using DNS 11, and still learning all the tricks to it, love the ability to take a recording and transfer it though. my old DNS10 home edition didnt have that function available. Its a great way to transcribe an audio file from say a video or audio training class, and create a text version without having to type it all up.

Thanks, James. Great article with lots of helpful tips. We're writing a lot of articles these days, and I will implement your suggestion of going to forums and gleaning questions, keywords, and information that is available there.

Great tips, thank you all. Being a teacher myself, this theme is old news for educators. The two biggest problems most of us mere mortals face when creating content are structure and time management. You adressed both these issues in a very simple and objective way. I'm just starting to go through the content so the first impression is a very positive one. I'll go through the content guide right away.

I learn to write manually, it's a hard way but a damn good practice, for example, if you have all the information and want to write them into an article, you don't type it, take a pen and a paper and use your hands to write them each and every word you did like to say.
The reason for doing this is "movement" though typing is also a movement it is only efficiency but not effective.
When you write manually with your hands, it will not be efficiency but effective.
And when you keep doing and practicing it, you will not have any problem in writing whatever you did like to write. Though it's kind the hard but it's effective...

First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question that I'd like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing. I have had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to be lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints? Thanks!